Prince George’s County to reassign 22 paid firefighters

WASHINGTON – Four Prince George’s County fire stations will lose a combined 22 paid firefighters to other stations in the county on March 4 as part of the county’s multi-step staff realignment plan.

The decision was announced in a staff memo on Feb. 1 from Prince George’s County Fire Chief Marc Bashoor. In the memo, Bashoor says the changes were made once “all patterns of redundancy in service” were identified.

In making the decisions on which stations needed reassigning, officials analyzed population density, call volume and seven-minute response times at each location; metrics are based on standards set by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission Public Safety Master Plan and the National Fire Protection Association.

“What we’ve done is balanced where they are, and spread those out, so the citizens are getting a better coverage,” Bashoor says.

Seat Pleasant Station 808, Branchville Station 811, Boulevard Heights Station 817, and West Lanham Hills Station 828 are the four stations losing paid firefighters.